Creepy eyeball-like 'spaghetti monsters' wash up by the dozen

And watch out – they've got a nasty little sting on them too

Jace Tunnell with a Rhyzophisa. Courtesy Jace Tunnell, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University

A CREEPY seabeast that looks like a disembodied eyeball and delivers a painful sting has been washing up by the dozen on the Texas coast.

Nicknamed Spaghetti Monsters, Rhizophysa are a type of siphonophore closely related to the dreaded Portuguese man o’ war.

And like their famous relation, they’re actually a colony of animals with tentacles that inflict a nasty sting upon contact.

Now they’re washing up in numbers in the US state of Texas – and experts are warning beach-goers not to touch.

Jace Tunnell of the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University personally found dozens of Rhizophysa stranded on the beach.

He said: “The spaghetti monsters have been washing up over the past three weeks along Mustang and North Padre Islands in Corpus Christi, Texas.